Kae Sun
Outside the Barcode EP
Ghana/Toronto
“Weh-Weh outside of your everyday acoustic album”
If your idea of a good acoustic album is something by Jack Johnson, Outside the Barcode may be a little over your head. The range of emotion hit on Kae Sun’s newest five-song EP is more than the guitar-slinging beach bum has mustered in five full-lengths.
Kae Sun – Outside The Barcode by Kae Sun
Recorded on 2-inch tape on a farm in Ontario, what Kae Sun intended to sound raw and authentic still provides the warmth and depth needed for easy listening. The EP was inspired by a trip back to his African homeland after nine years living in Canada. As Kae Sun starts with “Firefly Dance,” a beautiful ode to his “old home,” he draws up images of his grandmother’s hands and this “far, far away” land.
A nostalgic melody turns to a somber warning with “When the Pot,” where Kae Sun briefly chronicles Ghana’s political unrest. The description of “legislators who fake the change, freedom fighters only in it for glory” provides a nice wake-up call for middle class Americans whining about their 401(k) funds. “Burden of Love” is a unique ballad we won’t, but should, hear on the radio, and “Interlude” is short, slow and sad with eerie distortion. For a country he loves so much, “Weh-Weh” is the anthem Kae Sun leaves it with. The handclap percussion and resonating chorus puts Shakira’s “Waka Waka” to shame. (Self-released)
Produced by Joshua Sadlier-Brown and Marc Koecher